


and all the king's men fall down (how god was ruined)

by pyrality



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Character Study, Domestic, Experimental, M/M, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 06:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12205890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrality/pseuds/pyrality
Summary: The Outsider is certain Corvo Attano has corrupted him, burrowed his way into his empty chest and made a home there beneath his cold marble skin. An infestation. A sickness. A parasite. He could call it all of these things, but he knows it all untrue.Corvo is curling his hand right now, along his waist, calloused fingertips tracing over skin stretched taut over narrow, bony hips. His breath is warm on the back of his neck, and when he says, "Good morning", his voice is sleep-slurred, warm, and tender in ways that make the hollows in the Outsider's chest ache.The Outsider ponders over his relationship with Corvo.





	and all the king's men fall down (how god was ruined)

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this but didn’t end up using it for the much bigger corvosider fic i’m working on atm i think it sits okay as a standalone?

The Outsider is certain Corvo Attano has corrupted him, burrowed his way into his empty chest and made a home there beneath his cold marble skin. An infestation. A sickness. A parasite. He could call it all of these things, but he knows it all untrue.

 

Corvo is curling his hand right now, along his waist, calloused fingertips tracing over skin stretched taut over narrow, bony hips. His breath is warm on the back of his neck, and when he says, "Good morning", his voice is sleep-slurred, warm, and tender in ways that make the hollows in the Outsider's chest ache.

"Did you sleep well?" Corvo asks next. 

His voice is gravelly, roughened by sleep still. It does horrible things to the Outsider's body. He suspects Corvo knows this, but he is kind enough to not tease this early in the morning. He tries to hide the shiver that skitters up his spine anyway, a tremor traveling along each vertebrae.

"I don't sleep," the Outsider answers, unmoving even as Corvo slides his hand down from his hip to curl his entire arm around his waist. "Gods do not sleep."

He presses closer, chest to the Outsider's back. He nuzzles at the back of the Outsider's neck, nosing along the curve of his shoulder. He feels the barest press of Corvo's smiling lips at the base of his neck, hears the breath he exhales against his milk white skin as the prayer it is.

"You're not a god right now," Corvo says, and his voice is very gentle, terribly reverent. And the man says he is not a heretic. The Abbey would see him burned at the stake. "You're my lover, in my bed."

Oh, he thinks himself a _poet_. The Outsider wants to tell him he isn't, but the hollow in his chest aches and betrays him.

"I hope you slept well," Corvo says next, kissing softly at the nape of his neck, nosing at the dark curls of his hair along his skin.

Corvo is not the type of man who is usually overtly affectionate. His brand of love is no less clear though, with the way he looked at Jessamine and moved in synchrony to her, no matter what they were doing, like two heartbeats in tandem. It's obvious too in the way he cares for Emily, gentle but stern, how he would lift her up into the air, smile at her drawings and kiss her forehead. With the Outsider though, it is like his affection overflows. Corvo's love is not worship, but there is something terribly, terribly reverent about the way he touches him.

He'd told Corvo, once, that his words and actions made something swell in his chest, like it was going to burst out beneath his skin. It would break the marble of his body; it would most certainly hurt. And Corvo had looked surprised, and then sad, and then he'd kissed the Outsider.

The Outsider is not... unfamiliar... with love. His short life as a human may have been devoid of it, but he's had four thousand years to observe how foolishly humans loved, how they loved with their whole soul, with reckless abandon. He knows this is what he feels— and he is certain Corvo will be his ruin. He calls it a hollow because that's what he is used to, and it is easier to pretend that that is still what it is. At the same time, he knows. He is certain that the beating in his once empty chest will grow to become so fast that he'll short out and expire like a burst of light. He'll only leave behind incandescent smoke, whalebone, marble, and the faint scent of sea water, and the air will taste of salt.

"You are mine," the Outsider says, and Corvo stills behind him, surprised. "Mine, dear Corvo." He reaches a hand down to curl over Corvo's on his stomach, slipping his fingers in between his. "If you will bring ruin to my home, then you will atone for it. You'll devote yourself to me and only to me."

Corvo sits up abruptly, twisting his body to brace a hand on either side of the Outsider's body. His eyes are so warm. The Outsider wants to touch his cheek, so he does. He reaches a hand up to curl against his jaw and he curses himself for it. He wants. He desires. He... He is ruined, already.

"I already have," Corvo says. His voice is equally warm, still sleep rough. The Outsider twitches. He smiles, turning his face to kiss the Outsider's palm reverently. "I've been yours for a long time now."

The Outsider holds Corvo's gaze, finds him infuriatingly honest in his words. He drops his hand from his face and turns his face into the softness of his pillow. It smells like Corvo.

Corvo huffs out a little noise, a quiet sound of amusement. He takes the hand that was just touching his face, the Outsider's left hand, in his own marked hand. He pulls it back up so he can kiss at the knuckles of each finger. He pauses with his lips pressed to his ring finger, lingers there long enough that the Outsider cannot mistake his intent, his message.

Corvo sets his hand back down gently. "Will you join me for breakfast?" he asks, voice soft. "I would like you to. There is something of importance I'd like to discuss."

The Outsider can't look at him. The beating in his chest is so fast now, so loud it thuds in his ears. He closes his eyes.

"You already know the answer, you fiend. I..." He opens his eyes again, flicks it up to meet Corvo's gaze. Corvo's brown eyes are patient, loving. He's smiling a little, and he looks oh so fond. The Outsider thinks he is smiling too now as he sits up to face Corvo properly.

"I am yours."

The thudding in his chest swells to a crescendo... and then quells. It slows down to a rhythmic beat, a heartbeat. The pressure inside the cavern of his chest is gone.

Corvo smiles wide, grabs the Outsider and hugs him tight. He tucks one hand to the small of the Outsider's back, holding him closer. The other he uses to find the Outsider's left hand again, thumb tracing over his ring finger.

"I love you," he says, barely above a whisper, into the Outsider's ear.

The Outsider smiles into the crook of Corvo's neck.

"I know."


End file.
